Lucky Trip #7

[55greenchevy]

Sorry to broadcast this to the masses, but it's hard to contains myself....our wait is almost over......blast off from Minneapolis to Aruba is now T-minus 10 days. Aruban trip experience #7 will begin Feb 4th through Feb 14th with a sole mission plan of R&R. As I scribe this, I had to laugh some as my luggage bag has been sitting next to my desk here, all packed up as early as two weeks ago. I guess that is the Eagle Scout in me......"always be prepared"

We will be vacationing with another fun couple this year (they have been with us on two previous trips to Aruba), so expect nothing short of pure pandemonium and skullduggery. Our highly complex itinerary is all planned out right down to the minor detail.....beach it late morning until early afternoon, back to the villa for Happy Hour and a pool swim, clean up and out for dinner, back home to chill and then nap time. Rise and repeat! Our most difficult part of our days is deciding which beach to head to each AM.....they are great conversations/debates during morning coffee time.

As a quick ending comment here, I wish all to know that I enjoy reading and digesting the many topics and subject matter posed on this Aruba forum. This group provides a great purpose and intent for 1st timers vacation to Aruba or those of you on your millionth visit....thanks to all the moderators, contributors and commenters for the information, insight, feedback, opinions, recaps, etc. The contributions provided here truly showcase this wonderful place called Aruba and the classiness of our forum membership.

Cheers!

[cpjones]

It's early...... but sounds like someone should be asking if you're there yet! Your anticipation of the trip makes me smile!

[Pegmeister]

Excited for you! I hope you’ll post a bit when you’re in Aruba. Safe travels!!

[Andrea J.]

I too am excited for you!

Where will you be staying?

[Colette M]

Have an amazing trip. We’ve also vacationed in Aruba with our best friends several times. It’s great when you are all on the same page. Very happy for you. Enjoy every moment!

[annf]

I hear your excitement! Safe travels and have a wonderful time!

[YiaYia1983]

Have a great vacation! I am looking forward to reading trip report

[55greenchevy]

We will be staying at a nice private home in the Boegoeroei neighborhood of Noord. We've rented this home before and it has become our favorite.....location is ideal (near Do It Best) and it sits on top of a hill overlooking the area. Great sunset viewing while sitting on the rooftop. The home has three individual bedrooms, 3.5 baths, beautiful veranda, garden and and a large salt water pool.

We've always rented homes (with pools) and vehicles while vacationing in Aruba.....never had a bad experience yet. Unlike many that stay at beach resort or hotel, we enjoy the options of being flexible and mobile to explore the many beaches, restaurants, communities and sites of the island while coming back to our own little oasis. Much more private and quiet....plus having our own pool is priceless. We beach it every day (unless there is an excursion planned) and make the rounds to our favorites.......Arashi, Boca Catalina, Tres Trapi, Manchebo, Mango Halto and Baby Beach. We generally avoid the Palm and Eagle beaches as they tend to have large crowds.

[SusieLovesAruba]

Happy for you - give us a trip report if you have time

[55greenchevy]

Sorry for not being able to provided a daily recap during our stay (we were kinda busy doing nothing, yah know), but now scribing out some of our 10 days details on our very relaxing, memoralbe and fun trip:

2/04 - Great day to leave the frozen tunda of MN today, as the morning temps were 15 degrees below zero. Arrived late afternoon in Aruba on a direct flight from Mpls airport. Even tho we arrived on a Sat afternoon, the customs line was very short and took us about 18 mins total to clear and receive our luggage. After getting getting our luggage, we hit the duty free shop at the airport (this took the longest due to the line). Afterwards, we secured our SUV rental for our stay with Wheel2Go and drove off to our villa rental. Arrived, did a quick unpacking of key things and hit the road to SuperFoods for some grocery and beverage needs. As always with most Saturdays, SF was a zoo. After arriving back to our villa from our grocery shopping ordeal, we were all really hungry and decided to hit our usual first night destination, the Local Store. Ordered fried pickles, some chicken wings, burgers and buckets of Balashi Mango Magics. Didn't take long to consume all and went back to the villa for a good night's rest.

2/05 - Beach day #1. Since we didn't get out of the house until after 10:00am, we arrived at Bocca Catalina beach only to find no parking spots and no beach spots. We continued to drive up to Arashi beach, rented a big umbrella and settled down for a nice day. Only downside was the wind on Sunday...it was more intense than most days and Arashi doesn't have any windbreaks like other places (mangrove trees, etc). Sand was blowing in our beach bags and beers, but rather than become annoyed, we laughed, crunch on the sand grit in our teeth and spent more time in the water. Went back to the villa in the early afternoon, enjoyed some pool time and happy hour. Cleaned up around 6:30 and drove off to King Fred's/Princess Diana for dinner. If you haven't been to Fred's new place, I highly recommend it. The menu is mainly chicken driven dishes, but all very different. Also, you have to try their Mustard Soup.....it's out fricking standing.

2/06 - Beach day #2. Got up earlier today and drove to Boca Catalina around 8:45am. Got our nice spot under the trees and settled in for another nice beach day. The day was filled with chilling, reading, listening to music, people watching, laughing, telling stories, snorkeling, swimming, snacking and drinking beverages. Went back to the villa late afternoon for our standard happy hour and pool time. Since we hit it hard on Sunday eve and all of us four were feeling the full day effects, we decided to order some take out chicken wings from the Local Store and enjoy them on our villa rooftop view and watch the sunset. The dry rub chicken wings from the Local store are the bomb.....sweet with some heat, just perfect.

2/07 - Beach day #3 - Got up early again and drove down to Baby Beach. Got a nice spot in the shade and repeated our beach activities from the previous day. Strong winds today caused some sand blowing issues again, but not as bad as we experienced on Arashi. Went back to the villa late afternoon for our standard happy hour and pool time. For dinner we made reservations at Flor de Oriente in the downtown area. First time here and what a treat, what a place! Smaller in size, but service was great, food was exceptional (plus all dinner entree's were $20 or less) and restaurant ambiance was good. Highly recommend. Peter the owner was engaged and great.

2/08 - Beach day #4 - Got up early and found a nice tree shady spot on Eagle Beach. Got rained on briefly, but sun came out once again. Enjoyed another beach day, and of course, happy hour in the villa pool. Tonight's dinner destination was Quinta del Carmen. Had another wonderful dinner experience at this restaurant.

2/09 - Beach day #5. Decided to go back to Boca Catalina on this day. Got our usual spot under the trees and enjoyed another perfect day. Rinse and repeat. Did see a couple of sea turtles in the AM while snorkeling. After pool happy hour, we cleaned up and had dinner reservations at Patrizia's of New York. First time here and must say we prefer their Italian fare more than Gianni's. None of us four were disappointed in our meals or service and will be our new go to spot for Italian on the Island. After dinner, we walked over to the Casino across from the Fireson Brewery, made our cash donations, and went back to the villa.

2/10 - Beach day #6. We went back to Baby Beach to enjoy yet another sunny day. After pool time and happy hour, we cleaned up and had dinner reservations at Chalet Suisse.....our first time here. I will say our dining experience on this day was superb.......service was spot on and the food was exceptional. We ordered different steak and seafood entrees......all were grand. We finalized the meal with some dessert....two orders of their own Apple Strudel with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a strong cup of black coffee. YUM!

2/11 - We unfortunately had to drive our friends back to the airport to catch their flight back to Mpls. They decided to stay only one week, while our intentions were to stay longer and fly out on Tuesday. We took them to Linda's Dutch Pancakes for a late AM breakfast and enjoyed our usual fine meal. After dropping our friends off at the airport, we decided to go back to the villa and enjoy a dawn and calm day pool side at our rental villa. For dinner, we chose to order take out Pizza from a small local spot down the road from us that was new to us. We ordered two different pizzas from Pizza Italia, and let me say, they were both phenomenal pizzas. The are a Neapolitan style pizza that is made a tad crisper. The place is very small (they have about four total tables at the pizzeria), but don't let that fool you on the quality of their product. All pizzas are made in their brick oven, so the pizza undercarriage is nice and done with some black bubbles. They have their own basil and herbs out front of the pizzeria and pick them fresh for garnishing. If you like a great craft pizza, this is the place to try. As a footnote, if there are only two of you, once pizza will be enough.

2/12 - Beach day #7. We went to Mango Halto and spent the entire day at this beach area. If you like to snorkel, we feel this is the best snorkeling area on the entire Island. Weather was perfect, water conditions ideal and snorkeling was grand. We also met a nice couple that sat near us from Toronto and enjoyed some chatter with them. Back to the villa in the afternoon, and yep you guessed it, pool time and happy hour. For dinner, we decided to order some take out from a local food truck that I heard good things about. We visited Julio's Corner food truck at the next round about down from Super Foods. OMG, what a great decision this turned out to be. We ordered soft shell tacos and a Patacon with french fries......absolutely delicious. The price is very reasonable, but his food was the highlight. Highly recommend this casual dining experience.

2/13 - Beach day #8. For our final beach day, we decided to go back to Boca Catalina as it is one our favorite beach locations and spots. Spent most of the day in the water, taking in the last day of sun, sights and sounds. Another perfect day with great beach eats of meat, cheese & crackers and some Super Foods deli dips on small pieces of toast. And some Balashi Mango Magic beers. Went back to the villa late afternoon for our final happy hour and pool time. For dinner, we opted to go casual and drove up to Cafe 080. We ordered the fish & chips and cuban sandwich, both were excellent. I would have to say, this is one of the best cuban sandwiches I have had.

2/14 - The dreaded day arrived, as it was now time to return the rental SUV and catch our flight back to MN. The airport on Tues around noon was dead and we made it to our gate in about 35 total minutes (we have Global Entry, but there was no more than 25 people in the regular customs line. We flew Delta back and had a connection in Atlanta. All went well and made it back safely to MN around 8:00pm.


That's our story and we are sticking to it. Sorry for such a long recap to digest, but wanted to scribe out most of our trip details in one sitting versus a new post each day. Like I said, we were very very busy each day . Trip #7 is in the books now, but we have more fond Aruban memories to carry with us. Trip 8 in 2023.....yeah, I think so.......
Cheers!